Another Path Taken
by waterlily11
Summary: The Hunger Games through Gale's eyes. With a major twist in plot. AU
1. The Crack of Dawn

It's the crack of dawn. Gently, so I don't disturb Posy, who has crawled into my bed again, I lift off the covers and slowly get out. I pull on my worn-out, yet sturdy boots and head out the door. I breathe in the morning air. Out of habit, I glance in the direction of the Everdeen's place. You can't see it from here, as the foliage from the trees cover that section, but still I look.

I walk a bit down the sparse road; everyone's sleeping in today, as they should; until I reach the part in the fence that surrounds the forest, encasing us inside. The official reason for the fence is to keep out the wild things, with I guess it does, but knowing the Capitol and its dictator and unfair ways, the latter seems unrealistic.

The fence is supposed to be electrified too, but since our district is the twelfth and poorest, the hum from the fence is rarely ever there. We barely get electricity in our houses as it is, and are lucky if we can get a few hours' worth in the evening. In fact, the only time when our district is sure to have electricity is for the watching of the Games. The Capitol only asserts to our needs in order to make sure we can watch children kill each other.

I crawl under that little nitch in the fence and go to the spot where Katniss and I hide our bows. I grab mine and start looking for something to shoot so I can maybe trade it for a morning meal to eat with Katniss. It is Reaping Day anyhow. I'm glad my siblings are too young once again to be a part of the Reaping this year, and I know Katniss must be worrying as this is Prim's first Reaping. Prim, with only one slip that Katniss has worked so hard to minimize the odds, has nothing to worry about this year. Katniss, on the other hand…

Something scampers by and I shoot. It's a little off, as per usual. Katniss is the archer, I deal with snares.

But it'll do. I head back under the fence and into the district again after putting my bow back. I head straight to the baker. He's there, right up and early and I can always count on him for business and a chat. Since Katniss never wants to trade with the baker, who's actually a pretty good customer, I usually am the one who goes over there and we talk about things. Not about the Capitol, which is dangerous to do in the district, but about other stuff, like the only thing I can't ever discuss with Katniss.

The baker, Mr. Mellark, smiles as I walk in. I nod at him. I rarely smile at people and they have accepted that as who I am.

"Shot something?" he asks, already wiping his white-powdered hands on his apron.

"Just a squirrel," I respond taking it out. "Just hoping for some nice bakery bread to start the morning."

He grins. "With Katniss? Let me see that squirrel."

I hand it over to him and he laughs. "Gale, next time let your girl take the shot."

I roll my eyes. "It's not that bad." He wipes his hands again and goes to the oven and pulls a tray and sets them to cool.

I lean on the counter and wave my fingers through my hair.

"Worried about the Reaping today?" Mr. Mellark asks. "It's your last year, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I respond "but it's not so much me I'm worried about."

Mr. Mellark nods in understanding.

"Katniss." we both say at the same time, which isn't surprising as all those talks we've had are centered around her.

"She has 20 slips this year," I blurt out. "Her chances aren't good."

"And you have more than twice that" he says bluntly.

"I'm not so much worried for me…I mean I am. If I get chosen, which is likely that I do, my family will starve. They rely on me," I stumble out.

The baker's eyebrows furrow. "Tell you what," he begins. "If you or Katniss get chosen, I swear by my sons' lives I will provide for your families, you know, make sure they don't starve. I know you both have younger siblings to care for."

"Mr. Mellark," I start to protest. Anybody else, I would turn my back on since I hate charity, but Mr. Mellark is something different. So I stay put and protest. "You have a family too."

He cuts me off before I can say more. "Though we aren't from the Seam, we don't exactly live well-off, but we can manage pretty well. We can spare some. I'm the only baker in this district anyway!" he says jovially, though by the way his eyebrows furrow I know he's thinking about his catty wife right now.

He senses that, and replies "Don't you worry about her. She thinks she's got the power, but it's all show." He won't take no for an answer.

"Thank you Mr. Mellark," I respond. "I can't express my gratitude."

He nods. "The sun has risen, don't you have somewhere to go?" He ponders.

"Yes, Katniss is waiting for me in the woods."

"So are you ever going to tell her?" he asks as he starts wrapping one the loaves. "Your feelings for her?"

I gaze off to the cakes, which are sort of ridiculously decorated. I guess it's beautiful, but it just reminds me how poor District 12 really is. Especially since I come from the Seam, which is the runt of the runt as far as Panem goes.

The baker murmurs something under his breath that sounds to me like "Boys these days."

He should talk. One of these conversations we had had him bring up the fact that he was head over heels with Katniss's mother when they were young, but then she fell in love with Mr. Everdeen, who died in the same mine explosion as my own father.

"I have been planning on telling her, but…" I finally respond. The baker keeps his eyes on me in silence.

I speak the next words in a rush "She'll just run away from that. You know how she is."

I think, especially over the last year, Katniss has been feeling that we're more than friends, but love scares her away too easily for me to admit my feelings to her. And I don't want to lose our friendship.

Mr. Mellark has finally gotten my telepathic messages that we should get off this subject. It's too painful. "Where's Peeta?" he asks, partly to himself. "He's usually down here at this time."

"Well, I have to go," I say to him. "You know, hunting with Katniss."

He nods and hands me the bread he finished wrapping. "Good luck to both of you," he calls out as I head out the door with the bread. "Good luck, Gale." He says the last with different tone which implies he's not talking about the reaping.

The bakery door swings shut and I unwrap the bread. It's worth far more than the squirrel I shot. I turn back in shock. The baker's already going back to his usual chores but I see a glimpse of blond hair through the window on the door behind the counter. Peeta. I shake off the feeling that he's probably been listening to us the whole time and head back to the forest to celebrate the bread with Katniss. I feel so happy that I'm heading over to see her right now, and I think that this might be the day I tell her I love her.


	2. The Reaping

Katniss is walking over, the early sunlight dancing on her face, and I call her name.

"CATNIP!" I yell out. My nickname for her since we've met. She doesn't hear me though.

Finally she sees me and smiles. She never smiles anywhere else except around me and that builds up my confidence for what I'm going to tell her. "Hey, Catnip," I say. "Look what I shot." She looks at the arrow I stuck into the bread and laughs her glorious beautiful laugh. She takes it into her hands and breathes. I can see her shock across her face. "Mmm, still warm."

I laugh, everytime she's with me I feel so jubilant.

"What did it cost you," she asks still taking in the bread.

"Just a squirrel," my thoughts going back to the conversation we had this morning. I have to be careful to tell this story just right. Not only do I not want to scare Katniss off by a sudden blurt out of my love, but I have to be wary of mentioning the baker too. For some reason she never wants to talk about him. "Think the old man was feeling sentimental this morning," I say in a nonchalant tone. Sentimental about my unrequited love more like.

"Well, we all feel a little closer today, don't we?" she responds sarcastically. She's worried about the Reaping. Obviously. This kind of worry makes me want to tear up the Capitol. It's all their damn fault for all the sadness and worry in my family and friends. I'm thinking about my hate for the Capitol that I almost miss what Katniss is saying.

"…left out a cheese," she's saying as she pulls out a little basil leaf wrapped package, that Prim most certainly got from her goat. I brighten in remembering how we got that goat for Prim. Katniss was so happy that day that she even bought a _hair ribbon_.

"Thank you Prim!" I say. "We'll have a real feast." Thinking of feast turns me back on my thought train of the Capitol. They have these huge expensive feasts all the time, every hour. I mimic their accent as I declare "I almost forgot! Happy Hunger Games!" I announce in a ridiculous tone as I take on the berries on a bush nearby and toss it over to Katniss.

She catches the berry in her mouth and continues the Reaping Day saying, mocking the Capitol accent too "—be _ever_ in you favor!" she cries out. We make eye contact, and break out laughing.

This is the time. Truthfully, there really is no right time, because seriously, with the Capitol killing off our children and torturing the people with hunger while flaunting their wealth in front of us—no time with ever be the perfect opportunity. So I might as well say it now, when I'm ready to profess it.

I kick myself internally for not planning a way to tell this so that Katniss won't be scared off. I can't just shout out "I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU." She'll not only never speak to me again, she'll whack her bow into my head. If only we didn't live in where a Capitol exists and there were no Districts and Hunger Games…

"We could do it you know…" I trail off. "What?" she asks, more interested in a passing butterfly. I cough, and wave my fingers through my hair again. "Leave the district." I say bluntly, trying not to let the words I LOVE YOU escape. "Run off." I gauge her reaction, her eyebrows are high and she's looking at me in disbelief. "Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it." Now she just looks confused.

She might think I'm forgetting about our siblings. She would never leave Prim, and I would never leave mine either. She knows this right?

"If we didn't have so many kids," I add, just to make sure she knows I wouldn't just ditch them to live in this slob.

She apparently has no idea how to respond and changes tack.

"I never want to have kids," she declares. I'm mad at myself for not getting to the point. I try again.

"I might. If I didn't live here," I say, trying to get back on track.

She's getting irritated, her cheeks are flushing. "But you do," she spits out. It's then when I really get frustrated. I've pictured her reaction so many times, and yet, her reaction is already here and I still haven't been able to say those three words to her.

"Forget it," I snap. I concentrate on eating the rest of my piece of bread and stare off into silence. I glance quickly at Katniss, who's now pondering this whole conversation.

After a while, she says gently "What do you want to do?"

I can tell she's trying to forget our conversation until she can make better sense of it. I know her too well. I sigh, still frustrated. Maybe I can try a different tactic later. Maybe if we go fishing, where we don't have to worry so much about being quiet.

"Let's fish at the lake. We can leave our poles and gather in the woods. Get something nice for tonight," I say.

If there is a tonight. If one of our names our drawn out, we will be heading to the Capitol, preparing for slaughter.

We fish, and Katniss keeps talking about trivial things, keeping it light. I can never find the words, or an opening. A dozen fish, a bag of greens and a gallon of strawberries later, I still haven't confessed my feelings to Katniss and this makes me so frustrated that I still haven't gotten the courage to just say it straight. We go to the Hob, the local black market, and then we swing by the mayor's to sell a portion of the strawberries, as he is known to be willing to buy them. His daughter answers the door. I don't remember her name, she's in Katniss's year not mine and she dressed in some expensive dress no one at the Seam could ever hope to afford. She even has this gold pin that would provide a family with food for a while.

I acknowl edge my bad mood, which is just getting worse as I realize every second I haven't told Katniss how I feel and seeing the Mayor's daughter, with her expensive clothes and accessories reminds me of the Capitol—the reason why Katniss refuses to easily love and trust, which is why the next words leave my mouth.

"Pretty dress." I say sarcastically.

The mayor's daughter shoots me a look. Unfortunately, since sarcasm is so integrated with everything I say to people besides my family and Katniss, people can't really tell the difference.

"Well," she responds in a cheery voice she puts on after she purses her lips together. "If I end up going to the Capitol, I want to look nice, don't I?"

This really sets me off.

"You won't be going to the Capitol," I say. I look at her pin. Katniss has twenty slips and she has "Five entries? Ka-I had six when I was just twelve years old."

Katniss, who has apparently been observing in shock for the last few minutes finally speaks up.

"That's not her fault," she defends the mayor's daughter, who now I remember has I name starting with M.

She brings me back to a more sane level. "No, it's no one's fault. Just the way it is."

I stalk off and Katniss soon joins me. I can tell she's sort of mad at me for digging at Maple, Marjory, Marge? but she lets me get out all my anger anyway though by the way she's looking around constantly, she's worried someone might overhear. She's giving me time to let out my hatred for the Capitol, and I do, but what I really want to tell her I can't. So I yell about the Capitol instead so my frustrations at least can be directed in a way she'll understand. We soon part, each leaving with half of the rest of what we scavenged today. "Wear something pretty," I say, though I don't really care. She'll look pretty anyway. She always does.

I come home and my family is happy about the food but I can tell they're all worried for me.

"I set out your clothes on your bed" she says. "Take a bath first and hurry." After I finish washing off the dirt and smell, I find my father's best clothes on the bed. Of course, I've been wearing my father's clothes for a while as I've long reached, if not surpassed his height but these mean a lot to my mother, who tends to hold on to every bit of him. I slip on the collared shirt and the brown slacks and walk out to find Posy in a faded yellow polka dotted dress and my brothers all scrubbed up. They usually play so much they are always covered in dirt. I see their faces rarely. We head off to the square, where they do the reapings, and Posy clutches my hand, holding it as tight as she can.

The eligible contestants are roped off, boys on one side and girls the other by age and I search for Katniss. She looks so beautiful, I choke.

The mayor says the usual, Haymitch, the only winning tribute out of two from District 12 still alive makes his usual drunk debut and then Effie Trinket with her pink ridiculous wig still obviously disappointed with being stuck with District 12.

I keep glancing at Katniss, and just looking at her makes the edges of my mouth turn up a little. Right before the drawing, we make eye contact and I'm so worried for Katniss I sure I will panic. I look away and try and concentrate on Haymitch in his drunken stupor. Or Effie's ridiculous manner of speaking. Or—

Time is moving too fast, and at the same time too slow. Effie has already pulled out a slip of paper and my eyes are trying to make out the words from the back of the paper though we're really too far away and I hear her start with "Pr—" and I stop listening because, I'm so happy Katniss has been saved.

Then I see Prim walking up towards the stage and I panic. I consider Prim my sister, but I know what Katniss will do before it happens and just as I expected she's shouting insanely "I volunteer I volunteer as tribute" and she's rushing through the bewildered crowd trying to get to Prim. She reaches Prim and pushes her away. I find Prim being pushed right into my arms and for a second I'm confused as I was nowhere near the stage before. Prim is squirming, trying to get out and Effe Trinket is shouting something in a too-happy voice and then the mayor's saying something but I can't understand anything because my ears are filled with panic. As is my heart. Prim squirms out and is clutching Katniss's back and I pull her off. Prim is now screaming hysterically and Katniss is looking at me and I can barely manage to speak to her. I don't even know what I am saying, though I know my lips are moving.

My feet carry Prim to Mrs. Everdeen and they clutch each other. Through all this panic, I know one thing. I'm going to be that boy tribute. The baker has already promised he'll take care of our families and I know he'll do so. Though it might only be a week with Katniss, I will spend the rest of my life with her, and goddammit, I will tell her how I feel.

Effie Trinket reads out the slip for the boy tribute and ironically enough it's the baker's son. He walks stonily up to the stage and when she asks the usual "Are there any volunteers?" question that is usually pointless because a tribute in District 12 is the same as murder unlike Districts 1,2 and 4 where they basically crawl over each other to volunteer.

But this time there's no silence. I make eye contact with my family, each one and nodding to them, and then to the baker, who's stone struck and scream out "I volunteer as tribute!"


End file.
